Are undiagnosed IGT/IFG and type 2 diabetes common in heart disease and hypertension?

Diabetes mellitus causes significant morbidity and mortality, and up to 50% of people with diabetes may be as yet undiagnosed. Additionally impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) is known to increase vascular risk and the risk of developing diabetes.

The aim of this study was to look for IGT and/or impaired fasting glucose (IFG) and undiagnosed diabetes amongst patients with hypertension and patients with ischaemic heart disease (IHD) as part of an annual structured assessment.

In IHD patients the uptake was 83.45% with a yield of 2.47% for undiagnosed diabetes and 12.39% for IGT/IFG. In hypertensive patients the uptake was 75.84% with a yield of 2.01% for undiagnosed diabetes and 18.54% for IGT/IFG.

We concluded that looking for undiagnosed type 2 diabetes and patients with IGT/IFG in primary care may be worthwhile amongst patients with hypertension or IHD.

Prevalence of macrovascular disease amongst type 2 diabetic patients detected by targeted screening and patients newly diagnosed in general practice: the Hoorn Screening Study

OBJECTIVES

Screening for type 2 diabetes has been recommended and targeted screening might be an efficient way to screen. The aim was to investigate whether diabetic patients identified by a targeted screening procedure differ from newly diagnosed diabetic patients in general practice with regard to the prevalence of macrovascular complications.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional population-based study.

SETTING

Population study, primary care.

SUBJECTS

Diabetic patients identified by a population-based targeted screening procedure (SDM patients), consisting of a screening questionnaire and a fasting capillary glucose measurement followed by diagnostic testing, were compared with newly diagnosed diabetic patients in general practice (GPDM patients). Ischaemic heart disease and prior myocardial infarction were assessed by ECG recording. Peripheral arterial disease was assessed by the ankle-arm index. Intima-media thickness of the right common carotid artery was measured with ultrasound.

RESULTS

A total of 195 SDM patients and 60 GPDM patients participated in the medical examination. The prevalence of MI was 13.3% (95% CI 9.3-18.8%) and 3.4% (1.0-11.7%) in SDM patients and GPDM patients respectively. The prevalence of ischaemic heart disease was 39.5% (95% CI 32.9-46.5%) in SDM patients and 24.1% (15.0-36.5%) in GPDM patients. The prevalence of peripheral arterial disease was similar in both groups: 10.6% (95% CI 6.9-15.9%) and 10.2% (4.7-20.5%) respectively. Mean intima-media thickness was 0.85 mm (+/-0.17) in SDM patients and 0.90 mm (+/-0.20) in GPDM patients. The difference in intima-media thickness was not statistically significant.

CONCLUSIONS

Targeted screening identified patients with a prevalence of macrovascular complications similar to that of patients detected in general practice, but with a lower degree of hyperglycaemia.